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Mardi Gras Indian Hall of Fame launches ‘fair use’ campaign

3rd August 2015   ·   0 Comments

By Ryan Whirty
Contributing Writer

‘The artwork is responsible lending essentially the soul of the Mardi Gras Indians. And it is artwork. It’s not just a costume, it’s artwork. When we see these displayed, it hurts. How would you feel if you saw your art posted on a wall and you weren’t getting anything for it.’

Cherice Harrison-Nelson knows deeply and personally how crucial the vibrant tradition of Mardi Gras Indians is to the rich history and culture of New Orleans — her father was famed Indian Big Chief Donald Harrison, and she currently serves as the curator of the Mardi Gras Indian Hall of Fame and as Big Queen of Keepers of the Flame Maroon Society.

Because of this intimate connection to the Mardi Gras Indian heritage, Harrison-Nelson is quite familiar with how countless photographers have, over the decades, snapped pictures of dozens of Indians as they parade for various New Orleans events.
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A portrait of Cherice Harrison-Nelson, Queen of Keepers of the Flame Maroon Society, by artist Lisa DuBois was featured at Blue Linen Monday where proceeds of Mardi Gras Indian photography and art will benefit the Mardi Gras Indians.

A portrait of Cherice Harrison-Nelson, Queen of Keepers of the Flame Maroon Society, by artist Lisa DuBois was featured at Blue Linen
Monday where proceeds of Mardi Gras Indian photography and art will benefit the Mardi Gras Indians.

Harrison-Nelson says that when those photographers then sell their work for large sums of money, they’re essentially robbing the Indians — who all spend countless hours carefully crafting their costumes — of potential monetary return for their investment of hard work, spirit and personal funds that go into making the elaborate dresses.

That, Harrison-Nelson says, must change.

“The artwork is essentially the soul of the Mardi Gras Indians,” she says. “And it is artwork. It’s not just a costume, it’s artwork. When we see these [photographs] displayed, it hurts. How would you feel if you saw your art posted on a wall and you weren’t cash advance Chesapeake VA Pleasant Grove East getting anything for it.”

That impetus to share the wealth of Mardi Gras Indian photography is the central theme of Monday’s fifth annual Blue Linen Monday, slated for 6-7:30 p.m. at the Arts Council of New Orleans Gallery located at 935 Gravier St. on August 3.

At the event, numerous photographers, graphic artists and fine artists will offer their work for sale to the public. The key aspect of the exhibition, though, will be that the Mardi Gras Indians depicted in each work sold will receive 30 percent of the proceeds from that sale, while the photographer or artist will garner 70 percent.

Harrison-Nelson said the objective of the exhibit Monday isn’t just to start ensuring that NOLA’s beloved Indians are treated fairly and with respect, but also to “embrace the relationship between the photographers and the Mardi Gras Indians” whose image approved cash advance chickasha ok those picture-snappers sell.

The annual Blue Linen Monday event — which will also feature the traditional serving of red beans and rice on the first day of the work week — will coincide with the launching of the “You Get Paid, I Get Paid” and “green paper” initiatives, which are also dedicated to making the distribution of proceeds from the sale of Mardi Gras Indian images and representations more equitable.

A press release about the launching of the fair-use campaign states that the “green paper” initiative “is styled after a traditional white paper but renamed because of its focus on the cultural economy. The paper draws from policy research and first-person stories collected from Mardi Gras Indians and their relatives, to demonstrate the financial and emotional impact on those who have seen their images – including those of small children and deceased chiefs – sold in surety bonds for bad credit galleries and online without the subject’s permission or compensation.”

The green paper effort was assembled by a coalition of activist, community and commercial organizations pushing for “greater equity in [the] New Orleans cultural economy and tourism industry,” according to the press release.

The sponsoring coalition coalesced during Foundation for Louisiana’s 2014 Equity Caucus and is funded by the Foundation’s TOGETHER campaign. The working group of organizations is also striving to create a survey, a cell phone app and similar methods to assist Mardi Gras Indians and other New Orleans culture bearers in gaining more control over the financial potential of their own art.

“Our culture sets New Orlean­ians — and indeed, all Louisianians — apart as one of the most unique in the world,” said Foundation CEO and President Flozell Daniels in the press release. “The foundation is committed to supporting efforts to increase the payday loans in brownsville tx equitable distribution of revenue from this rich heritage to benefit those who are most directly responsible for creating and preserving it.”

Harrison-Nelson said that the Blue Linen Monday event features the enthusiastic and empathetic participation of numerous photographers and artists who are more than willing to share the proceeds of their work with those depicted in it.

“A lot of them have been willing,” Harrison-Nelson says of the photographers. “A few of them will still tell you that they don’t have to [share the financial benefits], and there’s no one telling them they have to, but many of them realize this is the right thing to do. This is a pivotal time as the bell curve [of active photographers and artists] starts to shift toward more support of us.”

This article originally published in the August 3, 2015 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.

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